Our Love Story: Part 18

Preface: If you’ve missed any of the “chapters” of our love story so far, go back & get caught up before continuing below!
Part 1 — Part 2 — Part 3 — Part 4 — Part 5 — Part 6 — Part 7 — Part 8 — Part 9 — Part 10 — Part 11 — Part 12 — Part 13 — Part 14 — Part 15 — Part 16 — Part 17

Derrick was officially finished with college. He wouldn’t “graduate” – as in walk the stage in a cap & gown – until spring, but the fall semester had ended & he was officially done with all of his classes.

I had counted down the days & it was finally Christmas. Derrick & I had a whirlwind (of course, what was new) 5 days to spend together before I would pack my new little red car to the brim & drive down to Florida to begin my Disney College Program Internship. After those 5 days together over Christmas, we would more than likely not see each other for 5 months.

Trying desperately not to think about that (and honestly debating whether I had made the right decision in applying to work at Walt Disney World), our Christmas together began.

Derrick drove his 2-door white Jeep down to my house on Tuesday evening, December 23rd. I had told him that he was welcome to come earlier (secretly hoping that he’d take me up on the offer), but work obligations plus moving out of his dorm & into his new apartment meant that Tuesday was the earliest he could come. Gas prices at the time were at an all-time high & Derrick’s Jeep wasn’t exactly “efficient” with fuel. Driving across the state cost a pretty penny.

Wednesday morning, Christmas Eve, dawned and we rushed into the whirlwind that is always the Christmas holiday. In my family, we have several Christmas Eve & Christmas Day traditions. We have always spent Christmas Eve morning & early afternoon at Meme & Grandpa’s house. The morning starts out with breakfast, then we gather in the living room to exchange & open gifts, and then everyone spreads out to relax & hang out & eat a casual lunch.

I had done my best to prepare Derrick for the chaos that is Christmas Eve at Meme & Grandpa’s house. My Grandparents might have only had 2 sons, but of those 2 sons, we had 6 kids in our family, and my Aunt & Uncle had 5 (at the time). I’m the oldest grandkid and that meant several things: one, I was treading new territory as the first to ever bring a “boyfriend” to a family event (so that promised to be fun) and two, there would be a ton of little people running around & screaming with excitement over it being Christmas.

I warned Derrick of all of this: “It’s going to be just crazy! But, it’s also a lot of fun. Just enjoy it & don’t worry if you can’t remember all of my cousin’s names.”

Thankfully, everyone welcomed Derrick in with open arms. Since my family had already met Derrick over the summer, the “newness” of him being my boyfriend wasn’t quite as “shiny” as if this was the first event he had ever come to. We ate pancakes & mountains of bacon, drank sparkling cider, and after opening gifts, had our traditional wrapping paper battle. Having Derrick there with our family just seemed natural. The little kids loved him & he seemed to fit in so well.

That evening we had a Christmas Eve service at our church. It was a bit of a “variety” service in that, instead of it just being a time of singing & listening to a Christmas Eve message, there were a lot of smaller parts to the bigger picture. My Dad was finishing up a Children’s Message series he had been doing every Sunday in Advent, several different people stood up for special readings, there were multiple special music performances (by several different groups) and eager to “show off” Derrick’s amazing singing abilities that they’d experienced during Paul & Naomi’s wedding, my parents had asked Derrick if he would sing a special during my church’s Christmas Eve service too. He agreed & decided to sing O Holy Night (one of his favorite Christmas hymns). I accompanied him on piano & was so proud of how beautifully he sang. This was my boyfriend & he was amazing.

Following the Christmas Eve service, we all went over to my Grandma’s house for cookies & gifts. My Grandma has always been a tremendous baker extraordinaire, so her house not only constantly smelled of Christmas cookies from about December 1st on, but her counters were full of cookies (and nut rolls and chocolates) just waiting to be eaten as well.

We woke up Christmas morning & exchanged gifts with my family. My siblings & I had a Christmas morning tradition where my sisters & brother all gathered in my bedroom as soon as they all woke up (without my parents) and we exchanged “sibling gifts”. We’d been doing this for years, and this year, we included Derrick in our tradition. It was so fun to see all of the little things my siblings had so lovingly picked out for this new guy who was being welcomed so heartily into the family.

After breakfast & Christmas morning with my family, Derrick & I packed up his white Jeep and hugged my family goodbye. We then made the 5-hour drive up to his parent’s house for the rest of our Christmas holiday. It was an easy drive as there weren’t many people on the road & a soft falling snow made the day especially feel like Christmas.

On the way across the state, Derrick got a phone call from Paul & Naomi. They were already at the Abbey’s & were anxiously waiting for us to arrive. Naomi talked to Derrick & asked him what he had bought Paul for Christmas. Confused, Derrick refused to tell her, saying that they’d just have to wait a few more hours until we arrived.

“No,” she explained. “I just wanted to see if you got him a Game Stop Gift Card like you always do. There is a game he wants to buy that he just saw is on sale today. We got you a Game Stop Gift Card, and as long as you got the same thing for him, he’ll just use his card & you can keep the one you bought for him.” (To this day, the brothers still typically buy each other Game Stop Gift Cards for Christmas.)

Understanding, but at the same time confused, Derrick responded, “No, that’s stupid. Just wait until we get there – we’ll be there in about 2 hours.”

Hanging up the phone, he explained what was going on to me & we laughed together. Derrick had gotten his brother a Game Stop Gift Card, but especially since it was for his brother, there was no way he was giving in & “giving” it to him early.

A few moments passed and Derrick’s cell phone rang again. This time it was his Dad. “Hey, what’s going on?” he asked.

Derrick replied that we were still about 2 hours away & would be there soon, “Whatsup?”

“What’s going on between you & your brother & Naomi?” his Dad clarified.

“Uhhh, nothing, why?”

“Well, Naomi’s here all upset because she said that you just called her ‘stupid’ when she was talking to you a few minutes ago.”

Flabbergasted, Derrick explained the conversation as he understood it & explained that he had called the situation “stupid” – not Naomi. Understanding & just playing the middle-man peacekeeper, Derrick’s Dad promised that it would be okay & that we could sort everything out when we arrived.

2 hours later, we pulled into the driveway & the first thing Derrick did was apologize to Naomi for the misunderstanding. She apologized too & they both ended up laughing over Paul’s zealousness at buying this specific game on Christmas Day.

The “stupid” comment turned into the joke of the weekend as we all teased each other for the rest of our time together about it.

The rest of our Christmas holiday with the Abbey’s was uneventful. We exchanged gifts (including the brothers giving each other the exact same Game Stop Gift Cards) & had a turkey dinner, followed by sitting around the fire & card games. It was my first Christmas to split between two families and I couldn’t imagine another family I’d want to split Christmas Day with.

The next day was Friday & we all moved out of Christmas-mode and into Birthday-mode! Derrick’s Dad’s birthday is exactly one week following Christmas Day & this year, since he was turning 50 years old, a big party had been planned. The entire church had been invited, plus a whole slew of friends & all of the family who could travel in for the event. There would be pizza and cake and of course: Coca-Cola.

The whole party was Coca-Cola themed. Derrick’s Dad has a legendary love for Coke and so the theme only seemed fitting. From the red tablecloths, to the cake that Naomi made (from scratch) – everything was Coke everywhere! We set up & decorated all afternoon & that evening hosted a big party – complete with 50 candles on the birthday cake (which caused a bit of concern that they might set off the sprinkler system in the church)!

Having already met most of Derrick’s extended family who lived close by, it was so fun to reconnect with his Aunt & Uncle & cousins! I also got to meet his Grandparents (who live in New York) for the first time. Of course, I mostly just stuck close to Naomi (who was busy snuggling all the little babies) and Derrick.

Grasping at the time that was so quickly slipping away, Saturday was simply spent relaxing. We didn’t leave the house. The six of us watched movies, sat around the fire, ate potato chips, and played lots of card games. Even though the day was quiet and uneventful, something about the time seemed to pick up it’s pace & move along even faster.

Everyone wanted to know the details of my Disney Internship, which I would be leaving for in a matter of days after getting home, but I honestly knew very little about my upcoming 5 months in Florida. Everything from where I would be staying, to the number of roommates I would have, to what park I would be working in, & what I would be doing was completely up in the air until I arrived on property & checked in.

Sunday dawned & with it came Derrick & I’s last few hours together. We went to church, had lunch with the Abbey’s, and then it was somehow time to pack the car. I was heading back south across the state with Paul & Naomi, while Derrick spent the rest of the week with his parents.

Even though we’d said “Goodbye” so many times before, this time was different. This time, we had no clear plan of when we would see one another again. There would be no countdowns until the next visit. And once I started working, and Derrick started working, we weren’t even sure if we would be able to talk to each other on the regular basis we were used to. This “Goodbye” was rough.

So much was unclear about what the next few months held. Our relationship was still so new and the time we had spent together, in person, was so short, the future simply looked like a bunch of question marks. Both Derrick & I were personally entering into brand new seasons of life: Derrick was finished with college & needed to begin making a living (and paying those college loans back). I was moving away from home for the first time ever & would be working on the other end of the country – the most moving I had ever done was from a bedroom upstairs to a bedroom downstairs. Change was in the air & we both knew it.

We weren’t at the point of getting engaged yet, we were still solidly in the “dating” camp. But things were getting more and more serious all the time. What would the next 5 months & the extreme distance bring? We were used to distance, but 250 miles along with a countdown of a few weeks until we spent more time together felt completely different than 1,000 miles and “unknown” time to see one another again.

This “Goodbye” was definitely different. And it was one of the hardest “Goodbyes” ever.

..Part 19 coming soon!